UK Supreme Court blocks class action against Google

Britain's Supreme Court has blocked a planned £3.2bn class action against Google parent company Alphabet over accusations that the tech behemoth had unlawfully tracked the personal information of millions of iPhone users.

The UK's top judges unanimously granted Google an appeal against the nation's first data privacy case of its kind on Wednesday in a move that impacts a series of other claims of the like against Facebook and TikTok.

Led by consumer rights activist Richard Lloyd, the case was intended to extend the UK's class action regime to include compensation claims for the alleged misuse of data, even if no obvious financial loss or distress could be shown.

Lloyd alleged Google had secretly taken the personal data of more than 5.0m Apple iPhone owners between 2011 and 2012 by sidestepping default privacy settings on Safari browsers to collect internet browsing history data and use the information gained for commercial purposes.

"We are bitterly disappointed that the Supreme Court has failed to do enough to protect the public from Google and other Big Tech firms who break the law," said Lloyd.

On the other hand, the Confederation of British Industry welcomed the ruling, stating allowing such a case would have potentially would have curtailed investment and impacted British businesses of all types.

As of 1305 GMT, Alphabet shares were down 0.97% in pre-market trading at $2,949.54 each.